Wave a Fond Farewell to Our Musical Director

This is the Quaich we presented to Gordon Jack on his last night with Inverurie Choral, Wednesday 18 May 2022. Maeve thanked Gordon for his support for the Choir since January 2019. She said that we had enjoyed, and benefitted from, his time with us, and thanked him sincerely for his effort and commitment over the three and a half years. We especially appreciated his keeping the Choir going via Zoom through Lockdown, little dreaming that it would be eighteen months before we would get back to live singing. Gordon leaves with all our best wishes for his future in music.

Sunflower Fundraising Event - Raising Funds for The Ukraine

On Saturday 23 April 2022, we participated in the Sunflower Fundraising Event at the Wyness Hall in Inverurie. Some of us dressed in yellow and blue to show support to The Uklraine. It was great to be singing in public once again, in our role as Inverurie’s community choir, and not a face covering in sight! We did a short set of popular songs, starting with three well-known pieces Old Folks at Home, Beautiful Dreamer and Oh, Susannah by Stephen Foster (1826-1864), sometimes called “The Father of American Music.”

Old Folks at Home – Ukraine Fund Raising Singing

Beautiful Dreamer – Ukraine Fund Raising Singing

Oh Susannah – Ukraine Fund Raising Singing

Then our special song for the day – The Willow Board – a traditional Ukrainian Tune made famous in March 2022 by the lone young fiddler playing it in a bunker, and 94 violinists across the world then taking it up as a virtual performance. See YouTube video https://youtu.be/VCYsjcOrK7U Inverurie Choral Society sing it as “The Willow Board.” Although the words don’t relate to the current situation in the Ukraine, the melody captures exactly the heavy sadness and despairing hope that is very much a feature of how we are responding to the news of what is happening there just now.

We finished with some of our favourite traditional Scottish pieces, all arranged by our MD Gordon Jack: The Selkirk Grace, sung as a rousing round; The beautiful and romantic Ye Banks and Braes, Robert Burns’s words set to an old tune; and Auld Lang Syne, also Burns’s words set to a traditional tune.

The Selkirk Grace and Ye Banks and Braes. Ukraine Fundraising Singing